[Rubentheran]

Hello guys. I just finished my foundation of studies and now I'm going to persuade degree now.Before I persuade can someone tell me which career is suitable for my me. I have interest in Maths and physics but I'm not good in drawing at all. I'm very poor in creativity/imagination. When I look on mechanical engineering course structure, it has subjects like drawing for engineers, CAD , engineering graphics and design while when I look in civil engineering there is no drawing at all in the course structure. Is it true civil engineering don't have drawing at all because I taught the civil engineering has more drawing right.But when I look in the course structure in civil there is no drawing or design like in mechanical.So guys can someone guide me which want is suitable for me to choose ? Thanks

[jcaron2]

I wouldn't be too concerned if you don't have good skills in drawing. Both types of engineering will likely require some amount of drawing or CAD, but keep in mind that this type of drawing is much different than artistic drawing. Engineering drawing generally involves precise lengths and angles. It's usually done with a computer, but if done by hand it usually involves T-squares, rulers, compasses, and protractors. In either case, typical drawing tasks require no real talent or artistic ability once you've been taught how to do it. It's simply a matter of executing a series of tasks. If ten different engineers use the same CAD program to make the same drawing to the same specifications, they'll all be indistinguishable.

Creativity is another subject entirely. Most people think of engineering as highly technical, methodical, left-brained work. They tend to think of engineering as being opposite of things like art or music or writing. In reality, however, engineering is ultimately very similar to those things. Artists use various tools and techniques and skills that they hone over the years to create beautiful works of art. Engineers use various tools and techniques and skills that they hone over the years to find creative solutions to overcome difficult problems and create new and useful things. Instead of using paintbrushes and chisels as their tools, they use math and science.

If you really feel that you're not creative, don't be discouraged. Typical undergraduate engineering classes are unlikely to challenge your creativity too much, and future engineering careers can span a whole spectrum of skill and creativity levels. Some engineering jobs mostly involve straightforward problem solving. If we focus on civil engineering, for example, you'll find that most typical civil engineers work on ordinary, every-day projects like road construction and small bridge design. There are plenty of complex calculations and trade-offs to be made, and a strong engineering background is definitely required. But in the end the job is mostly about optimizing known parameters (things like concrete slump, rebar size, beam deflections, etc.). It takes a smart person to learn how to do all of the required models and calculations, but once you've learned how, there's not much creativity required. There are many analogous jobs in mechanical, electrical, chemical, and all other types of engineering too. On the other end of the creativity spectrum are the civil engineers designing one-of-kind structures, things like super sky-scrapers and multi-kilometer suspension bridges. These things require not only great engineering skill, but also great creativity to solve never-before-encountered problems. Such projects often blur the line between engineering and art even more by requiring the finished product to look beautiful in addition to being functional. Again, there are analogous jobs in the other engineering fields, as well.

If you're truly uncreative, you may ultimately find yourself in a career slightly closer to the mundane end of the spectrum, but you can still be a very good engineer. On the other hand, you may find as you go through school and begin your career that you're more creative than you think. It could be that your lack of talent or skill at drawing or painting or sculpting or other more artistic endeavors has been holding you back from being able to be creative. You may be more creative than you think!

As for your overall question about civil engineering versus mechanical engineering, I'd vote for mechanical engineering. It's less specialized and usually more rigorous. You may have to work a little harder to get through the mechanical engineering curriculum at most schools, but in the end you'll have a more universally-applicable skill set. At face value, I'd say there are a lot more civil engineering jobs which could be done by a mechanical engineer than there are mechanical engineering jobs which could be done by a civil engineer. That being said, however, engineering by its very nature is multi-disciplinary, and a good engineer in either field would likely be able to switch into the other with only a relatively small amount of specialized training.

I hope that helps.

[Rubentheran]

Thank you very much jcaron2. I really appreciate what you say. I will think about it about your opinion. By the way, I really want to thank you for your advice and concern